Newspapers / Elon University Student Newspaper / May 7, 1981, edition 1 / Page 8
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Hackett signs contract Mdth Dallas Cowboys Joey Hackett, tight end on last year’s NAIA Champion ship team, has signed a free agent contract with the Dal las Cowboys football team. The decision came about 1 p.m. Friday. “This has been one of the toughest decisions I’ve ever had to make,” said Hackett. “I tried to weigh all the options and I felt that in the long run it would be better for me to sign with the Cowboys.” The Cowboys carry three tight ends and with only two returning, Joey feels his chances are good. “They didn’t draft a tight end but they did sign another free agent,” said Hackett. “I think I have a good chance to make the team. You never know until you give it a try and that’s what I want to do.” FREE AGENT CONTRACT: Joey Hackett, • tifkt end on Eton’s NAIA championship football |eam, is shown right sIgWg a frw agent contract with Dallas Cowboys’ representative Harold Rash. Photo courtesy of Dally Tbnes-News Golfers go to NAIA nationals ON TO THE NATIONALS— Elon College’s 'golf team. Standing left to right are Coach Bill Momingstar, Joe Meyers, Danny Graham and David Dean. Kneeling from the left are Keith Decker, Frankie Jones and Chris Kelly. Courtesy of Daily Times-News. The Elon College golf team, by winning the Caro- linas Conference-District 26 golf tournament, will play in the NAIA nationals in Himtsville, Texas, the first week in June. After several weeks of flnding it hard to win a tournament, the Fightin’ Christians came away from Oroimd Hog Mountain with a 15-shot advantage over second-place Guilford. It was a must-win situa tion for Elon and could not have come at a more oppor tune time. “We were having trouble winning a tourna ment,” said senior leader Frankie Jones. “A lot of people were saying that we have been choking. Well, we went to Ground Hog Moun tain, laid all the marbles on the table, and when Tuesday night rolled around, look who was carrying the full bag. We owned that tour nament and we are going to the nationals.” Keith Decker, Frankie Jones and Danny Graham were selected All-Conference and All-District. Keith Decker also won medalist honors to lead Elon in the win. F at lady sings for softbaUers by Robert de la Fe Defeat leaves one with a very bitter taste. But it is always at its most bitter when it suddenly replaces the sweet taste of victory. Such was the salivary sensa tion that the softball team experienced last week, after losing in the final game of the District 26 tournament. The tournament, held in Graham, was smaller than expected. Only five of the 12 district teams elected to par ticipate in the single elimina tion contest. The field con sisted of St. Augustine, Bar- ber-Scotia, Shaw, Winston- Salem State and host Elon. Elon’s first game pitted them against Shaw. Not wanting to waste any time, the Golden Girls went straight to work. Elon bat ted around the line-up in the first inning, sending 10 play ers to the plate. Kim Smith showed her offensive skills as she batted two-for-two and reached first base safely on another two occasions by drawing walks. Lou Williamson and Pam Moore both hit three- run homers, but it was Shaw players who tightened the noose around their own necks. They gave up seven runs because of walks. The game was stopped in the fifth inning because of the ten- run rule, Elon winning 14-3. Advancing into the final, Elon faced St. Augustine. The Golden Girls started the game playing their usual alert, heads-up softball. A good example was an appeal play at third base by pitcher Susan Wilson, which erased a St. Augustine run in the first inning. Then the bottom started to drop out of the Elon defense. Misthrows, over throws, and fielding mis takes allowed St. Augustine to repeatedly score unearned runs. In all, Elon committed an unprecedented eight er rors during the game. Still the Elon bats seemed to make up for the defensive miscues. Ann Beeson hit a triple, scoring a rim and then coming in herself. Lou Williamson and Carol Mc Call combined for a pair of RBIs that put Elon two nms ahead in the last inning. The Golden Girls retired the first two St. Augustine batters in the bottom of the inning. Then as third baseman Kim Smith put it, “We let our guard down too soon.” In sports, there is a phrase that says, “The opera ain’t over till the fat lady sings.” Or in other words, the game is not over until the last out. Thus with two outs and ahead by two runs, Elon conunitted their final two errors, allowing St. Augu stine to score three turns and win the game, 9-8. The fat lady had sung. I^ftfielder Nuggie Dixon was quite stoic about the loss and commented, “I would have liked to see the season end on a winning note. But we had a good year otherwise. We did win the conference champion ship.” Elon finished its sea son with a 32-10 record. The loss marked the last game of Lou Williamson who also distinguished her self in basketball during her four years at Elon. William son complemented her natu ral abilities with great desire. She was what can be consi dered the most dangerous type of athlete, never giving up, always trying, always fighting. Given time, such an athlete will find a way to win. But time ran out. Lou Ann WiUiamson will be remembered by Elon ath letics, remembered and missed. Sidelines by David Temple Near the city limits of Durham, N.C., there stands a monument to a past time. The tall buildings and residential districts that once surrounded it have been steadily replaced over two decades by crumbling brick skeletons and abandoned lots. For a nine-year stretch between 1970-1979 only wind and cold occupied the fading bleachers and decaying walls of a ballpark that had once been the pride of the city. The baselines where baseball immortals such as Ted Williams and Babe Ruth had once roamed had slowly died beneath the uncut grass and the pitcher’s mound where Bob Feller had once woven his mid-summer magic was really not a mound at all, but a fading patch of brown in a sea of green. The large Chesterfield cigarette sign in centerfield that had been the measuring stick of many legendary homeruns had peeled beyond recognition. People no longer filed through the rusted turnstiles and yoimg eyes no longer peered through the knothole in the outfield wall. Even the familiar chords of “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” had long been lost somewhere in the night. It had not always been that way, however. At one time the ballpark was the home of Durham’s minor league franchise, the Bulls, and had played host to such great major league teams as the Boston Red Sox and the New York Yankees. The ballpark was the birthplace of many memories for the people who came from all over the state and paid money that they didn’t have to catch a glimpse of their summer heroes. But after an embarrassing succession of last-place finishes, the Durham Bulls and Durham Athletic Park became only memories as well. It was only a year ago that the park was brought back to ihfe and rebuilt to accommodate^ the new edition of the Durham Bulls, clad in new red, white, and blue uniforms. Though the park had not been a part of my childhood, I filed through the shiny silver gates one July evening last year to see the field that my grandfather had described so vividly. Yet, as I took my seat in the grandstand, I quicUy discovered that the park had been reborn after all. Bank and futfood signs had replaced the old cigarette and soda pop billboards while the fences and baselines had been relocated all around the field. The hotdog and ice cream vendors no longer waded through the shirt-sleeve crowd and “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” had been replaced by the latest disco beat. I left early that night and as the lights of Durham Athletic Park faded in my rear-view mirror, I couldn’t help but feel disappointed. The ballpark was forever lost In another time and no amount of money or neon lights could ever bring it back.
Elon University Student Newspaper
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May 7, 1981, edition 1
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